But not moving very fast. You know how I run.
I’ve decided not to worry too much about All Boilermaker All The Time, because it seems to me the Utica O-D is doing the same thing. At least, A Lot Of Boilermaker. After all, they have a whole newspaper with a large readership. I have one little blog with a modest but highly intelligent readership (I’m quite certain all my readers are folks of taste and discernment and even more certain that none of them will disagree)(and, of course, by “modest” I am referring to size of said readership, not humility of individuals on which I would not pass judgement).
Where was I? Ah, yes, Middle-aged Musings Monday. What better to muse about this morning than running? And I did muse as I ran.
One thought that occurred to me yesterday and that I further pondered today was I don’t run to improve my time; I run to improve myself. That meant something different fifteen years ago from what it means now.
Fifteen (or so) years ago, I was in the army. I’ll be honest: I did want to improve my time. They give you these PT (Physical Training) tests, they post the times for all to see. You have to maintain a certain time or they could make your life even more difficult. Of course I wanted to improve my time. But that was not my whole focus.
I realized this when this guy — I won’t even say which branch of service he was in, because he was a poor representative of it — scorned my running of hills (this was in Monterrey, CA; there were plenty of hills). If you wanted to improve your run time, he said, you should work on your stride, so it was better to run a smooth, flat track. That’s all very well and good, I suppose. But what if one was forced to run in a combat situation? The enemy is not likely to provide a flat, smooth path.
Anyways, it is much more satisfying to run hills, and a lot more interesting to have variety in the terrain. And running off road is fun! I did not argue all this with the guy. I just kept doing what I was doing. Any my run time did improve, so there.
Now I run purely for me (and for the amusement of anybody that wants to point and laugh, I suppose). These days I’m more interested in enjoying the scenery and thinking of things to write in my blog that I am in a hard core workout. Along the way I manage to put in a fair amount of effort, but I don’t need to think about PT tests or worry about combat situations.
So what am I improving, if not my time? I’m improving my weight by calories burned. I’m improving my powers of perseverance. I’m improving my knowledge of village streets as well as my observational skills. I’m improving my mood, because even if I don’t get that endorphin boost, I feel good about myself that I got out and did it.
Am I improving my blog? Well, that’s a judgement call. All I can do is keep running and writing. See you Tuesday.
Mohawk Valley Girl 